1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium drive or storage device realizing recordation and/or reproduction of information data with respect to a recording medium such as a magnetic recording disk, for example. In particular, the invention relates to a head slider supporting a head element within the aforementioned recording medium drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A magnetoresistive (MR) film is widely utilized to read out magnetic information out of a hard disk or magnetic recording disk in a hard disk drive (HDD), for example. The MR film is allowed to receive a magnetic field leaking out of the magnetic recording disk. The electric resistance of the MR film varies in response to the direction of the magnetic flux established in the magnetic field. Binary information data can be discriminated based on the variation in the electric resistance of the MR film.
Obstacles such as protrusions and contaminations may sometimes exist on the surface of the magnetic recording disk. If the MR film collides against a contamination on the rotating magnetic recording disk, the MR film suffers from so-called thermal asperity. As conventionally known, the thermal asperity may hinder the MR film from accurately reading the binary information data.
In general, a thin film coil pattern is utilized to write magnetic information data into the magnetic recording disk in the HDD. When an electric current is supplied to the thin film coil pattern, a magnetic field is induced at the thin film coil pattern. The induced magnetic field is led toward the surface of the magnetic recording disk. A proper magnetization is established in the magnetic recording disk in response to the application of the magnetic field. As the frequency of the information data signal for recordation gets higher, the thin film coil pattern generates a larger quantity of heat.
The aforementioned MR film and thin film coil pattern are both embedded in a protection film of Al2O3, for example, layered over a trailing or outflow end surface of a slider body. The protection film has a thermal expansion coefficient that is larger than the thermal expansion coefficient of the slider body. The heat from the thin film coil pattern causes thermal expansion of the protection film. The protection film largely swells toward the magnetic recording disk. The MR film excessively approaches the magnetic recording disk in this manner. As a result, the MR film suffers from a larger probability of collision against obstacles existing on the magnetic recording disk.